Does your child stop a negative behavior after the first and only time you tell him or her not to do something? Or do you need to revisit certain misbehavior, address issues more than once, etc.? For most parents, at some point they have to discuss a particular misbehavior more than once over a period of time. This […]
Why School Safety Initiatives Fail
New York Times writer, Crystal Yednak, and I spoke at length for her article published this past Sunday entitled, “Seeking to Assure Students’ Safety Outside School.” The article highlights stimulus-funded efforts in Chicago to create safer streets for students walking to and from school following a shocking number of kids killed and injured in recent […]
Who Will Bail Out School Safety?
Education budget cuts are in the headlines every day: Teachers being laid off in mass numbers. Local levy and bond issues failing left and right. Major cuts from school operating budgets. Buried deeper in these stories are the cuts to school safety. As of July, if things move forward as planned, the state grant component […]
Finding a Gun In a School Is Good News
Educators, parents, and the media often look upon a gun or drug confiscation in a school as bad news and a negative mark on a school’s reputation. In fact many historically believed, and some still believe, the presence of a police car parked outside of a school implies an out-of-control school and an incompetent principal exists […]
Law Enforcement and Educators Partner to Sustain S.C. School Safety
Yesterday I shared how the South Carolina U.S. Attorney’s Office has taken a leadership role in promoting school safety annually for the past 19 years. Kevin McDonald, the Acting U.S. Attorney and First Assistant U.S. Attorney in that office, shares his perspective on the importance of federal, state, and local partnerships not only in putting together statewide training each […]
Justice Dept Takes on School Safety in South Carolina
When you think of the United States Attorney’s Office, you think of serious crimes, indictments, and big-time jail sentences. You certainly don’t think of school safety. Not so in South Carolina. For the past 19 years, the South Carolina U.S. Attorney’s Office has taken a strong leadership role in promoting safe schools, school violence prevention, and school crisis […]
The NY City Terror Plot Connection to School Security
There is a direct connection between the New York City Times Square terror bomb plot and the security of your child’s school. I talked about schools as terror targets in my April 28th post entitled, “Is Your Child’s School a Soft Target for Terrorism?,” Ironically, that post was published just a few days before the New York City […]
Is Your Child’s School a Soft Target for Terrorism?
The 1999 Columbine High School attack has been referred to by many as an act of terrorism. Domestic terrorism, obviously, but still terrorism. Did the act fit the definition of terrorism? If not the formal definition, it certainly fits the concept. In my first book (Practical School Security), written back in 1998, I identified terrorism as one […]
Sometimes We All Neglect Our “Children”
A participant in one of my workshops once referred to me as a “school safety evangelist.” It’s a pretty intriguing title and very complimentary as this person recognized my passion for keeping schools safe. But the “school safety evangelist” title can be a hard one to live up to when you’re also self-employed, middle-aged with your […]
What Does a Fireman Know About Being A School Board Member?
If the fireman is Reno Contipelli, he knows a lot about school boards. And he never stops learning about school safety and taking those lessons back to his school-community. Reno is a professional firefighter and dedicated 17-year school board member for Cuyahoga Heights Schools in Northeast Ohio. He also heads up the board’s school safety committee. Reno […]